; I~~ ;; = ~; I= ~ ;~; ~ 1= ~s: May 1959 Washington 25 ,D.C. Vo1.21, No.5 THE ROLE OF HOLDING POUNDS IN THE MAINE LOBSTER INDUSTRY By Robert L. Dow,* Donald M. Harriman,** and Leslie W. Scattergood*** CONTENTS Page Page Introduction . 1 l:listory of Tidal Pounds . • • 5 Yearly and Seasonal Trends of the Fishery . 1 Description of Pound Operation • • 7 Locations and Cap a cit i e s of Lobster-Holding Problems to be Solved • . • . • 12 Facilities .. ..........••..• 4 Literature Cited . • • . • • • . ••• 14 INTRODUCTION The American lobster (Homarus americanus) is one of the most valuable re­ sources of the western North Atlantic. This species is caught in commercial quan­ tities between New Jersey and Newfoundland, and the total catch in recent years (1953-1957) has averaged about 76,000,000 pounds, worth $27,000, 000 to the fisher­ men. Since most of these crus­ taceans are sold alive, industry has had to develop mea n s of 70 __ Total ......... Canadlan Landings storing the lobsters from the time ----- Maine Landin _ they are caught by the fishermen 60 until they enter the retail trade. It is the purpose of this paper to "' 50 Q ................................ discuss the important role that Z ::> lobster holding pounds play in o these storage activities. 0... 40 o " . ........... -- YEARLY AND SEASONAL ~ 30 ..l TRENDS OF THE FISHERY ..l :. 20 _________ ./-------"'-----'.... '-----'.--.-•• ~/ The need for storing large quantities of lobsters is apparent 10 ______ -------.,/'",,//'--- when the yearly and particularly the seasonal fluctuations in the landings are demonstrated. Scat­ o N ~ N .. .. ..... .. ~ tergood and McKown (1951) show­ '" '" '" '" '" ed that lobster production had Fig. 1 - Landings of lobsters in Maine and Canada, 1938-1957. been increasing in the western North Atlantic between 1921 and 1949. It is evident from figure 1 and table 1 that this upward trend has continued. Because Maine is by far the principal United States producer of lobsters, we are omitting other states from our discussion. The United States remains the principal market for Canadian lobsters (figure 2 and t able 2) . It is not now possible to determine accurately the percentage of Cana­ dian lobster landings that are exported to the United States, however, from the data . * Director of Marine Research, Maine Department of Sell and Shore Fisheries, Augusta, Me. ~(~, Marine Resources Scientist, Maine Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries, Newagen, Me. ~( * ~( Director, Fishery Biological Laboratory, Division of Biological Research, U. S. Bureau of Co=ercial Fisheries, Boothb ay Harbor, Me. 2 COMMERCIAL F ISHE RIES REVIEW Vol. 21, o. 5 in t ables 1 and 2, it appears that between 59 and 71 percent were s hipped i nto the States during the l a s t 10-year period . This is a minimum figure, because fr esh or frozen lob ste r meat is included with live ___________-, whole lob sters in the import classifica- 6'.'04 tion "lobsters, not canned." During the _ ToalCanadlanCa' seasons when Canadian lobsters are im- 'Y'~ U Import. Fr ..h ported, a pound of lobster meat repre- 2W U 5 Imporl. Canned sents about four pounds of live lobsters. To state that between 65 to 80 percent of all Canadian lobsters are destined for export to the United States would not be an extravagant estimate. Of particular interest to the econo­ my of the fishery are the marked sea­ sonal landing fluctuations. Figure 3, Table 1 - Maine and Canadian Lobster Landings, 1938-19571 / Year Mame Canaolan Total .. .... (1,000 LbsJ . .. 1938 7,659 34,324 41,983 1939 7,571 34,223 I 41,794 I 37,122 1940 7,643 29,479 Fig. 2 - Canadian lobster landings and United States lID ­ 1941 8,937 30,181 39,118 ports of fresh or frozen and canned (he.nnetically se:ued) 1942 8,404 30,162 38,566 Canadian lobsters, 1948-1957. 1943 11,468 32,009 43,477 table 3 and 4 show that most of the C ana­ 1944 13,250 35,643 48,893 dian lobsters are import d dur ng the 1945 17,988 39,510 57,498 months of .1ay and June, while the ::\1aine 1946 18,779 41,099 59,878 landings are principall m August and 1947 18,277 35,059 53,336 I September. Together, Canad'an imports 1948 15,923 40,858 56,781 and l\Iame landings result in a peak sup­ 1949 19,273 43,210 62,483 ply during the period May to Sep em­ 1950 18,353 50,140 68,493 I ber. 1951 20,759 48,968 69,727 1952 20,036 47,652 67,688 Table 2 - Canned and Fresh o r F rozen; 1953 22,300 46,518 68,818 iLobster Imports from Canada, 1958- 19 5'l!! 1954 21,668 46,103 67,771 C ann eo Fresh 1955 22,718 48,959 71,677 Year Changed to'!! a, T ota l Frozer2 1956 20,572 51,608 72,180 Live Weight 1957 24,403 43,688 68,091 Total 325 981 809 393 1 135 374 • • I • .. 1,000 LbsJ. I •••• Average 16,299 40,470 56,769 1948 6,164 20,8 50 27 ,0 1-1 .!JMaine lobster landings from 1938 to 1940 and 1942 to 1949 5,483 21 ,32 3 26,806 1956 obtained from Fishery Statistics 2J the United 1950 8,038 22,046 30 , 0841 States' Maine 1941 and 1957 data from Maine Land- 1951 5,994 23,558 29,552 w: n:.onthly bulletins. Canadian lobster landings from 1 8 to 1946 for provinces other than Newfoundland 1952 7, 929 23, 197 31 , 126 obtained from the Annual Fisheries Statistics ~ C anada 1953 4,743 22,611 27,354 and those for 1947 taken from the Monthly Review 2!. 1954 5,7 58 22,468 28,226 Canadian Fisheries Statistics. T h e 1948 landings taken from Monthly Report 2J Eastern Fisheries Division, 1955 8,455 22, 962 31 , 417 Halifax, N. S . 1949 to 195 1 data taken fromMonthly 1956 8,555 22,484 31,039 Review of Canadian Fisheries Statistics, Dominion 1957 8,815 22,218 31,0 33 Bureau of Statistics . 1952-1957 taken from Annual .!JData from U. S. Bureau of the C ensus, United ~ R eport of the Federal Department of Fisheries. New- Imports of M erchandise for Consumption, FTll0 Re- foundland statistics for 1938-1939 obtained from Tem- ports . plema n 1941, Newfoundland Gove=ent Research y These f igures are obtained by multiplying the import Bulletin No. 11 (Fisheries), and figures for 1940 to canne d m eat data by a factor of 4 .0, which is the 1948 taken from Annual Reports ,q!" Newfoundland Fish- estimated number of pounds of live lobsters that yield eries Board. The 1949 to 1957 figures are taken from the Annual Reports of the Federal Department£!Fish- one pound ot canned (hennet icall)",sealed) meat. lIThis includes lobster meat that is not in hennetically- eries . sealed cans . May 1959 COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIE\\ 3 Figure 4, tables 4 and 5 indicate that the seasonal volume of imports from Canada has a trend sumewhat similar to that for Canadian landings. D lay d hlP­ ments,of lobsters that have been held in live storage in C anada ar responslbl for the instances where the imports exceed the landings, for example, during Jul and November to April. There are several reasons why the May Ca­ nadian landings markedly exceed Legend: ---- lmports from Can.da the United States imports: some •.••. '" Maine Landings of the lobsters are processed in­ __ Total to canned or frozen meat; some are put into live storage; and a time lag exists between the land­ ./1 ings of the lobsters in Canada , I and their shipment to the United , " II til I \ States. Q 4 I I Z I \ ;J : \ o I \ The seasonal variation in (l. I \ I \ the supply of lobster s is an im­ r.. I \ o 3 I \ portant factor in the price of I \ lobsters. Figure 5 and table z I I : o : y , 6 show the mean monthly prices I ., , I : I for landed Maine lobsters. It is I : \ ,1 I I , I , apparent that average prices are 1 , . , , I ".1 usually highest during the months ,, I ", .. , '. \ , January to April, which is the \ / 1 , , I period when Canadian and United ,~--_/ " , ............... " , States lobster landings are atthe ,I lowest. In the remainder of the " ...... , year, the price drops as Canadi­ '-- an lobsters begin to be imported U and remains low while the Maine Q fishery is at its peak. The sum­ mer tourist season provides a Fig. 3 - Monthly Maine lobster landings and llDpc>rt3 of fresh and fro­ large market for live lobsters zen Canadian lobsters, 1948-1957. and, when. that season has ended in September, the prices increase slowly as the catches diminish. The reasons for the seasonal fluctuations are based 011 several factors. Canada has a system of closed seasons that allows lobster fishing principally during tho~e months when live lobsters are able to withstand shipment to distant markets and th cooked lobsters produce a good yield of meat for the canneries. This means th:'l.t Month 1948 e Jan. 1,617 1,676 1, 909 1, 706 1,777 1,832 1,731 2,308 Feb. 668 743 762 1,355 1,078 1, 026 1,190 892 Mar. 645 869 619 1,320 1,039 827 666 1,264 Apr. 2,237 1,854 1,325 2,050 1,688 1,704 1,308 1,551 May 3,571 4,352 4, 149 4,892 4,284 4,898 4,741 3,800 June 5,056 4,430 5,181 3,983 4,987 5,198 5,356 4,418 July 2,626 2,181 2,482 2,334 2,844 2,856 3,003 3,031 Aug.